Weekend Reviews...

I had quite the weekend, between hanging out at a BBQ, seeing the new "Willy Wonka," and devouring the latest Harry Potter novel. Here are some quick thoughts:

1. I think the New York Times' A.O. Scott got it right when she wrote that "the sumptuous, eerie look and mood of the movie make it possible to ignore this dispiriting and superfluous adherence to convention." (See the entire review here) The "superfluous adherence to convention" is a wholly unnecessary and maddening psychological "back story" about Wonka's relationship with his dad. I'm all about sorting out one's dad issues -- but not in my escape movies, thank you very much.

2. I love Harry Potter. Love, love, love, love, love. I love ripping open the specially-branded Amazon box (I like to pretend that it was delivered via Owl post), the smell of the brand new book, the density and smoothness of the never-touched pages. I love being allowed to dive into the story and pretend -- just for the time that I'm reading it -- that I have no responsibilities or cares other than what happens in the book. I finished reading the latest installment at 11:40pm last night and think I might just have to start reading it again because it was over too fast. As many of the reviews have said, it's the darkest of the books so far, and it's very clear that any innocence Harry retained up until this point has been torn away by the end of this book. This makes for a deeper, richer reading experience -- but at the same time, I find myself nostalgic for the lightness of the earlier books where the worst thing (for the most part) Harry had to worry about was the Dursleys. I don't know what I'll do when the series ends -- there's really nothing else like these books. The writing isn't always stunning, and the 5th book (Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix) could have been edited with an axe, but there is always humor, compassion toward her characters, as well as amazing plots and characterizations that set these books apart.

3. I am now officially done with summer. I do not get along with heat and humidity, and the weather for the upcoming week portends temperatures in the 90's and very high humidity. Summer - done. Now.

More soon...